Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Swimming Lessons

My three year old son and I are going to the swimming pool everyday, until school begins (for the first time, next week). We wake up early, get ready the way we would for school and set off in the car. The driving time is about the same as what it would be to drive to school. We carry our bags, filled with the same things we will take next week. We meet people and swim and, afterwards, sit and watch the swimming classes for older children while eating our tiffins.

I did not plan this routine months ahead, it just fell into place by itself. I'm not a meticulous planner! This schedule has given my son a sense of direction to his day (he loves water so it's nice to see him waking up all excited every morning), a sense of independence (he now happily converses with all the 'aunties' sitting around (the children are too busy swimming to notice him)) and has increased his stamina to the extent that I am confident he will not get completely exhausted during his long school hours. He has also figured out ways to cope with the unpredictability of traffic and road conditions. Apart from all this, he has learnt to make egg sandwiches from scratch and loves doing so (more than eating them)!

I too have learnt much from my visits to the pool, which in the mornings, is filled with elderly people and children who are taking swimming lessons. There are no young people or teenagers in sight. All the mothers (and an occasional father) are sitting at tables scattered around the pool, waiting for their children, shouting a few instructions now and then. Some are talking to each other, many are busy with their cell phones.

My son and I are cheerily greeted by many of the women, the coaches smile when he comes because he's so excited about going into the water. He and I are the only ones to enter the children's pool. All the other children are hard at work in the main pool while we are playing about in the water. Many mothers are surprised that I am teaching my son on my own instead of handing him over to the coach next year.

I realized, with some surprise, that parents feel that other people (especially professionals) are better equipped to deal with the education of their children. This is something I came across while searching for schools as well - mostly it was said by teachers (except for a small number who urged me to keep my son at home in the early years), but it seems to resonate within a large group of parents as well.

I see four year olds crying, throwing up and older children wanting to 'goof off' periodically in the pool. The parents are not sympathetic. My instinct would just be to go and hug the child and say, "It's all right. You can relax," but parents look disapprovingly at the child and a bit apologetically at the coach (who is a very dedicated and well meaning teacher in my view, but not every child is ready for intense coaching).

Play is greatly underestimated nowadays, especially spontaneous play. My son and I have a wonderful time playing in the water, driven mostly by him. He is at the stage where make believe adventures have just begun, so he's not just swimming when he's in the water. He is standing like a sea horse, jumping like a dolphin, floating like a jelly fish. He is surfing, he is hunting, he is deep sea diving. He has learnt how to move in water, how to cope when water gets into his eyes, nose or mouth. He has understood the feeling of floating and he loves to enter the big pool whenever he is allowed (the sense of buoyancy and the excitement of seeing so much water is far greater there).

I have learnt the importance of sharing these adventures and moments of learning with a child. Of being there at the same level, and doing the same things, to enable him to overcome fear and hesitation easily. Of not pushing him into things he is not ready for or not meant to do no matter how sensible or worthy the ideas appear.

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My Blog And I

My early education was at Happy Hours, Gyan Bharati School and St. Stephen's College at Delhi. I trained as a scientist from the department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and the department of Cell Biology (Yale University) and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (Bangalore). Subsequently I did a two year stint at the Government Ayurvedic College (Bangalore). I currently study and teach Yoga and am a freelance writer in India.
This blog is about things that fill my mind and life - stray thoughts, nature, travel, food, alternative and traditional healing, science, poetry, performing arts and other engaging stuff.